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District and Authorizer Info

Colorado charter schools are public schools that operate by way of a contract (charter) that has been authorized by a local school district or the Colorado Charter School Institute (CSI). The following links provide more information about Colorado school districts and charter school authorizers.

Districts and Authorizers

Charter School Institute (CSI)
Authorized to accept applications for schools (1) in districts without exclusive chartering authority (ECA) and (2) in districts which have retained ECA, with permission to the applicant from the district's board of education. Click on the link to be directed to the CSI Web site.

Charter School Appeal Dispositions

Resources

Developed to provide guidance in the writing and review of new charter school submissions. The target audience for this document is both the founding group (the applicant) as they develop a charter school application and the potential authorizer (the school district or Charter School Institute (CSI)) as they review and evaluate the quality and completeness of the application.

The CDE Schools of Choice Office has been working over the past year with the Colorado League of Charter Schools, in consultation with attendees at our quarterly meetings for charter authorizers, to update and revise the Colorado Charter School Sample Application Guidebook and Rubric (last published above in 2011) to reflect changes in statute and best practice. Below is that revised draft, which will be available for comment until June 15, 2015. Please submit any comments to soc@cde.state.co.usby June 15, 2015. A finalized version will then subsequently be posted on this webpage.

Intended to assist districts and charter schools in developing contracts that clearly spell out the rights and responsibilities of both parties and support high charter school student achievement and competent school operations. This second revision incorporates changes to Colorado law made during the 2009 and 2010 legislative sessions, including SB09-163 (accreditation) and HB10-1345 (emergency powers), and feedback received from charter schools and authorizers. This document is a companion to “Colorado Charter School: A Resource for Developing Charter School Contracts”.

Colorado Charter School: A Resource for Developing Charter School Contracts

Developed to provide useful information to assist districts and approved charter school applicants in writing effective charter school contracts. Because the charter contract is the foundational agreement that establishes a charter school’s autonomy and accountability and the district’s rights and obligations, it is essential that the contract meet legal requirements and adhere to best practices. This resource guide is a companion to the “Colorado Charter School Sample Contract Language and Attachments,” and complements the “Charter School Standard Application, Checklist and Review Rubric.”

A Colorado-specific guide to charter school renewal. Considering renewal of a charter school contract is a process that an authorizer and a charter school undertake every three to five years, unless a longer contract has been signed to address facility financing issues. This resource provides guidance, within the framework of Colorado laws, for authorizers to establish a renewal process.

A Colorado-specific guide to charter school closure. Closing a charter school can present many challenges, given the data that must be compiled and analyzed, public meetings that must be held, and the political considerations that must be addressed before a charter school chooses to voluntarily close or before the authorizer votes to not renew or to revoke the charter school contract. This checklist of tasks in a template format was developed to assist authorizers and charter schools with the closure process.

Related Links

NOTE: None of the documents represented on this page, or referenced under the provided links, are meant to represent legal advice or to lessen the need for charter school developers or operators to seek legal counsel.